


You and I Got Lost in Sleep

by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)



Series: Kanó- and Nelyo and -Káno [10]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Kidnap Dads, Lullabies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26923213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/AdmirableMonster
Summary: Maedhros puts the twins to bed for the first time.
Relationships: Elrond Peredhel & Elros Tar-Minyatur, Maedhros | Maitimo & Maglor | Makalaurë, Maedhros | Maitmo & Maglor | Makalaurë & Elrond Peredhel & Elros Tar-Minyatur
Series: Kanó- and Nelyo and -Káno [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995166
Comments: 22
Kudos: 109





	You and I Got Lost in Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> title from Tolkien's The Cottage of Lost Play

“Maedhros, will you please put the twins to bed?” Maglor hurried through the kitchen, snatching his cloak down from its peg as he went. “Larcatal’s foal is giving her trouble.”

“I—” Maedhros started, but the door swung shut behind his brother before he could finish his objections. He had a great number of them, like the fact that he was absolutely positive that the twins never wanted to see him again, and the fact that this was why they’d agreed Maglor should take care of them. But apparently there was something wrong with Maglor’s heavily pregnant mare, and Maedhros couldn’t really fault him for prioritizing her under the circumstances. Still—wouldn’t it be better for the children to simply wait and go to sleep later?

After wrestling with himself for a few minutes, he decided that Maglor must know best, and after all, children did need a lot of sleep, if he was remembering correctly. Fine. He would do it, this once, and he would do his best not to be terrifying, and maybe the children would still sleep well. 

The twins were huddled together in their little bed when Maedhros entered warily, and he wondered why he was even needed. If they could get into their nightclothes and into their bed, why should someone have to _put_ them to bed? He hovered awkwardly in the center of the room, and they stared at him with large brown eyes.

“Are you going to sing us a song?” Elros asked after a moment.

“Atya always sings us a song,” Elrond put in, nodding vigorously. “ _Always_.”

Maedhros coughed. “A song?” _Atya?_ What was Maglor teaching them? Clearly, Maedhros should have been paying more attention.

“We can’t sleep without a song,” Elros explained, and both of them clasped their inner hands and looked at Maedhros with an utterly tragic look that was _oddly_ familiar, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on where he’d seen it before.

“I can’t sing,” Maedhros responded bluntly. “You need to learn.”

They exchanged a look. “We have _nightmares_ ,” Elrond said, his lower lip wobbling. Maedhros’s heart actually stopped in his chest.

“I…didn’t realize.” Of _course_ they had nightmares. What kind of a monster would he be if he didn’t do what they asked to assuage those? When he had probably caused most of them himself? “I must simply warn you that I cannot sing as finely as Maglor does.”

“We don’t mind!” They both sat up, clutching their knees to their chests. They were so tiny. Maedhros gingerly sat on the side of the bed. He had no idea what he ought to sing them.

“What songs do you like?” he asked, eventually. The two little boys looked at each other, then shrugged.

“We like the songs Atya sings,” Elros said.

“But we want to know what songs you know, too, Atar,” Elrond said sweetly.

“I’m not—” Maedhros bit off the protest. Whatever Maglor had been teaching them, he was quite certain that if he tried to talk them out of it, it would only hurt them. He would need to have strong words with the bard at some point later on. With a sigh, he hurriedly dredged up the only song he could think of, a song he hadn’t heard in such a long, long time. It was basically a nonsense ditty, but Nerdanel had sung it to her children, and Maedhros could still remember the words and the melody, even if his ability to reproduce said melody was somewhat impaired.

_There was a little star_

_Hey ho the derry O_

_Traveled to lands afar_

_Let us make merry O_

_He sailed across the sky_

_Hey ho the derry O_

_And heaved a mighty sigh_

_Let us make merry O_

_I am a lonesome star_

_Hey ho the derry O_

_Out here in lands afar_

_Let us make merry O_

_Then came a pretty sun_

_Hey ho the derry O_

_Into the star’s eyes shone_

_Let us make merry O_

_Then as the story’s told_

_Hey ho the derry O_

_Sun and star’s love was gold_

_Let us make merry O_

_Let us make merry O_

Elrond and Elros sighed with satisfaction despite the fact that Maedhros was certain he had butchered every damn note. “There. No nightmares, all right?” he said, and he hadn’t meant for his voice to come out the way it did—concerned and quiet and affectionate. He was their captor, not their nanny.

“We still need a good night kiss,” Elrond said. “One for each of us.” He pointed to his forehead and then to Elros’s. Maedhros looked at them helplessly. How could they possibly want him to—but he couldn’t _not_. They deserved to have anything they wanted, no matter what. He leaned forward and kissed them each once, lightly and carefully, where their hair met their foreheads.

“Now will you go to sleep?” he asked, tucking the blanket carefully around them.

“Yes, Atar,” they both chorused, and Maedhros had to school himself not to flinch.

“Thank you. I need you both to stay safe and healthy.” And then he wondered if they would think he meant so that he could trade them for the Silmarils, which wasn’t what he meant at all. He just needed them to stay safe and healthy, because—because he _did_. Elrond nodded sleepily, then burrowed his head into his pillow.

“We will,” Elros said sturdily, then put an arm around his brother and snuggled up to him. As soon as he saw that they were asleep, Maedhros fled from the room. He was actually breathing hard when he reached the corridor, his heart pounding heavily in his chest, and it took him several minutes to steady it. Once he was quite certain that he had, he made his way back to his own bedroom, intending to read quietly for a little while.

When he opened the door, Maglor was lying in his bed.

Maedhros gave him a long, slow look. “Larcatal’s foal?”

His little brother responded with a sweet smile. “Doing much better.”

“Was she ever in any difficulty?” Maedhros’s voice came out a little sharper than he’d intended, but Maglor’s smile didn’t fade.

“She has seemed rather stressed lately. I thought a lullaby might be just what she needed.”

“So you left me to put the twins to bed. I could have terrified them—hurt them!”

“Did you?” Maglor asked, with what appeared to be an appalling lack of emotion.

“…well. No. They seemed to be sleeping when I left,” Maedhros muttered. “But you couldn’t have _known_ —”

“Nelyo.” Maglor sat up and seemed to be about to say something, but he flicked his tongue across his lower lip and gestured to Maedhros to come closer instead. Maedhros hovered for an angry moment in the doorway and then did so.

“When we first found them,” he said tightly, “you thought that I would harm them. You thought to keep me away from them.”

“And you thought the same thing about me,” Maglor retorted. “I know. I remember, Nelyo.”

When had Maglor called him that last? Maedhros didn’t know. “So then— _why_?” he asked hoarsely.

Maglor looked sideways, his finger tracing a little pattern along the coverlet. “Because I’m tired of it,” he said softly. “Because I don’t want us not to trust each other anymore. We’re all that we’ve got, and—and we’ve both done horrible things, I know we have—but you’re still my big brother.” There were tears in his dark eyes, and he made no attempt to brush them away. “Can’t I be your little one again?”

“Káno…” Maedhros used his own thumb to flick away one stray tear that had started to trickle down Maglor’s cheek. He blew out his breath. “Surely you know I don’t deserve that?”

“Neither do I. I know. But I want it anyway. Please?”

“All right. All right. Hush.” He tucked the blanket up around Maglor’s chin and then haltingly began to sing the same little nonsense lullaby he had sung for the twins. Maglor smiled—and how long had it been since Maedhros saw him smile like that, simple and uncomplicated, with nothing hidden behind it? It was beautiful. Maedhros’s voice cracked, and the smile turned just a little teasing.

“Still can’t sing, I see,” Maglor told him, and Maedhros tugged his hair sharply.

“Hush, _brat_.”

Maglor turned his face into Maedhros’s hand, just pressing his cheek against it, and as Maedhros continued to sing, huskily, Maglor joined him, his sweet voice steadying them as they sang the old lullaby together. As the notes hung in the air for a long moment, Maedhros stooped and kissed his brother’s forehead gently. “Go to sleep, little brother.”

“Stay?”

“It’s my room, you brat.”

“Oh…so it is.” Maglor gave him a taunting grin and snuggled down into the bed. Maedhros sighed. 

“Scoot over.” He pulled back the covers and slipped in, curling up behind Maglor and putting an arm across his chest. 

“You’re letting in cold air.”

“Serves you right. Now go to sleep, Káno.”

“Yes, Nelyo.” He was so warm. They didn’t deserve it, Maedhros thought sleepily, but perhaps Maglor was right. The children deserved to be well cared for, after all. 


End file.
